David Ionovich Bronstein was born February 19, 1924 in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine.1

Chess and Checkers Club

When Bronstein was six, his grandfather taught him how to play chess. Later, when his family moved to Kiev, he joined the city "Chess and Checkers Club" and soon won the Kiev "Schoolboy's Championship."1 At age fifteen he was invited to play in the 11th Ukrainian Championship in Dnepropetrovsk, where he finished 8th.2 On the strength of this result he was invited back for the 12th Ukrainian Championship in Kiev. He placed 2nd to Isaac Boleslavsky, 3 which garnered him both the Soviet national master title and a place in the USSR Championship Semifinal in Rostov-on-Don.1,4 The semifinal was never finished due to the German invasion of Russia on June 22, 1941, and Bronstein did not play any serious chess for the next three years.1

Two Grandmaster Titles

By February 1944 the Germans had been driven back to the Dneiper River, and Bronstein joined the USSR Championship Semifinal in Baku.1 His 4th place finish qualified him for the final and drew the interest of Boris Vainstein, who quickly became an avid promoter of Bronstein's chess career. Vainstein was an influential member of the Communist Party, and he managed to have Bronstein relocated to Moscow from his job rebuilding a steel factory in the ruins of Stalingrad.1 Bronstein managed only 15th place at the USSR Championship (1944), but he was hardly disgraced, since he won his game against the incumbent
"Absolute Soviet champion": Bronstein vs Botvinnik, 1944. 5 Bronstein's 3rd place in the USSR Championship (1945) earned him a spot on the Soviet team in international matches, where he posted good results. Though he was not yet a grandmaster, FIDE invited him to the Saltsjöbaden Interzonal (1948), which he won.6 He was immediately made a Soviet grandmaster,7 and in July 1949 FIDE awarded him the international grandmaster title.8

The World Championship

Bronstein wasted no time proving that if someone wanted to unseat world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, they'd have to go through him. He shared 1st in both the USSR Championship (1948) and the USSR Championship (1949). He went on to tie Boleslavsky for 1st in the Budapest Candidates (1950), and won the subsequent playoff match. Bronstein now had the right to face Botvinnik in a championship match. Botvinnik had played no chess in public since he'd won the FIDE World Championship Tournament (1948), which Bronstein thought was a deliberate ploy to hide his opening preparation.9 Bronstein opened game one with the Dutch Defence, one of the champion's favorite systems. Botvinnik later characterized this strategem as "naive."10 The match was closely fought, and by game 22 Bronstein led by a point and needed only win once more, or draw twice in the last two games, to become world champion. The stage was set for a climactic final game in which Bronstein needed a victory, since the champion would retain his title in the event of a drawn match. This game proved somewhat controversial because Bronstein accepted Botvinnik's draw offer after only 22 moves: Bronstein vs Botvinnik, 1951. This engendered speculation that the Soviet government had ordered him not to beat Botvinnik. In a 1993 interview Bronstein explained that "There was no direct pressure (to lose deliberately)... But... there was the psychological pressure of the environment..." in part caused by his father's "several years in prison" and what he labeled "the marked preference for the institutional Botvinnik." Bronstein concluded that "it seemed to me that winning could seriously harm me, which does not mean that I deliberately lost."11

Cold Warrior

The NKVD12 had arrested Bronstein's father in 1935 because he had "tried to defend peasants... who were put under pressure by corrupt officials."13 His father was released after serving seven years in a gulag, and only pardoned for any wrongdoing in 1955. Bronstein never joined the Communist Party, nor any organisations associated with it, such as the Communist Youth Party, the USSR Writer's Union, or the USSR Journalist's Union.13 Nevertheless, for decades Bronstein remained a prominent member of the Soviet chess team. He played in four successive chess olympiads, winning the bronze medal on 3rd board in Helsinki 1952, the silver medal on 3rd board in Amsterdam 1954, and the gold medal on 4th board in both Moscow 1956 and Munich 1958.14 In the USSR - USA Radio Match (1945) Bronstein faced Anthony Santasiere on 10th board, scoring +2 -0 =0 in a 15½ - 4½ Soviet rout of the Americans. In a 1946 USSR-USA match in Moscow, the Soviets won again, with Bronstein splitting a pair of games against Olaf Ulvestad on 10th board. He again helped defeat the USA in two ideologically charged matches in 1954 and 1955. The first was slated for New York in 1953, but Cold War politics got in the way. The Soviet team were on the verge of boarding a ship from Cherbourg when a jittery US State Department abruptly tightened their visa restrictions. Moscow declared this a "violation of all the rules of international hospitality and civility," but the Soviets did manage to play the Americans the following year in New York, and again in Moscow 1955.15 In New York Bronstein played 2nd board and beat Arthur William Dake in one game, and then proceeded to win three straight from Dake's replacement, Arnold Denker. In Moscow he faced Larry Melvyn Evans on 3rd board, scoring +1 -0 =3. The USSR won both events.16

Golden Age

Although Bronstein never again played a world championship match, he enjoyed a long period of success in strong chess events.1 He came close to a title rematch with Botvinnik when he finished shared 2nd at the Zurich Candidates (1953), two points behind Vasily Smyslov. Bronstein wrote a book about the event, which has become a classic in chess literature: Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953. He won the Gothenburg Interzonal (1955) in fine style, but finished behind Smyslov and Paul Keres in the
Amsterdam Candidates (1956). He would never compete in another candidates event, though he did play in the Portoroz Interzonal (1958), Amsterdam Interzonal (1964), and the Petropolis Interzonal (1973). After 1949 he appeared in fifteen more USSR Championships, with his best results coming in 1957 (2nd to Mikhail Tal); 1958 (3rd to Tal); Nov-Dec 1961 (3rd to Boris Spassky); and 1964/1965 (2nd to Viktor Korchnoi). He won or shared 1st in the Moscow Championship in 1946, 1947, 1953, 1957, 1961, and 1968.17 Bronstein also won or shared 1st in a series of international tournaments, including Hastings (1953/54), Belgrade 1954, Gotha 1957, Moscow 1959, Szombathely 1966, East Germany 1968, Sarajevo 1971, Hastings 1975/76, and Jurmala 1978.18

Chess Theory

Bronstein made many contributions to theory in openings such as the Ruy Lopez, King's Indian, and Caro-Kann (e.g. the Bronstein-Larsen variation 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.♘c3 dxe4 4.♘xe4 ♘f6 5.♘xf6 gxf6). He helped revive the King's gambit,1 and also wrote a popular book on one of his favorite weapons: Bronstein On the King's Indian. Although Bronstein preferred some systems over others, the following recollection from biographer Tom Fürstenberg is worth keeping in mind: "David explained many times that he doesn't play openings - he just starts to create an attack... from the first move! ...That is why he does not have a specific opening repertoire. He just plays everything!"1

Devik

Bronstein, known affectionately as "Devik" by his friends, married three times, but it was his third marriage to Isaac Boleslavsky's daughter Tatiana in 1984 that seems to have given him the most lasting and satisfying partnership.19 In her memoir, she recalls meeting him several times as a young girl, noting his humour, generosity and, "above all, his gentle smile."19 She also ruefully explains that although Bronstein's patron Boris Veinshtein was indeed a powerful man, he could do nothing to prevent the Soviet Chess Federation from banning him from almost all foreign tournaments for thirteen years.19 Bronstein was banned after Viktor Korchnoi defected in 1976, and Bronstein refused to sign a group letter condemning him. Despite the fact that Boris Gulko, Spassky, and Botvinnik also refused to sign this letter, it was only Bronstein who received this draconian punishment. Foreign tournaments were prized by Soviet masters as a crucial source of income, because they generally paid out prizes in "hard currency." Bronstein had to support himself during this period by writing for "Isvestiya."1 He believed his punishment was so severe because he had helped Korchnoi during the Karpov - Korchnoi Candidates Final (1974). 20 In 1990, after the Soviet Union collapsed and the borders opened, Bronstein contracted cancer, but an operation proved successful, and he lived another sixteen years. He spent much of this remaining time touring Europe, glorying in his new freedom by traveling from tournament to tournament, meeting old friends and making new friends. In his typically light hearted manner, Bronstein explained that "...amazed that I was still alive, chess clubs began showering me with invitations"21 He died on December 5, 2006.22

A Magical Fire

"The art of a chess player consists in his ability to ignite a magical fire from the dull and senseless initial position."23

5 Though Cafferty and Taimanov do not recognize the USSR Absolute Championship (1941) as a bona fide USSR Championship, the winner Botvinnik was nonetheless considered the Soviet champion at the time. Bernard Cafferty and Mark Taimanov, "The Soviet Championships" (Cadogen 1998), pp.48-51

Tomorrow will be nine days since David Ionovich Bronstein is no more. Perhaps time is needed to realize the extent of this loss. Then we may find the words to express it... However, while the pain is fresh it's best to remain silent. Such a luminous person has departed, although the illness and disappointments that plagued Bronstein's last years did cast a somber shadow over him... Nothing exposes a man like his smile. Anyone who had the fortune of knowing David closely will remember what amazing inner light it brought to his face. Fortunately, the photographs are still with us... There's also a hint of a smile in his wonderful story about his older wartime friend, the Georgian master Archil Ebralidze (one of the heroes of the 1937 USSR Championship held in Tbilisi, soon to be covered on this site). Bronstein dictated this story to his wife in the fall of 1990, right after undergoing a most grave operation, and somehow never got around to publishing it. Let this be David's parting smile for you. - Sergei Voronkov, journalist, historian.

I received my first lessons in wine imbibing, oddly enough, in Tbilisi in the hungry wartime year of 1943. Food was then beyond my budget, while wine was incredibly cheap and of high quality to boot. How many wonderful hours I spent with Archil Ebralidze in the wine cellars of Tbilisi, where our only company was casks full of wine and the cellar's owner, who would every now and then strain the wine into half-liter canned-food jars, since no one had seen glasses in Tbilisi for a long time.

Archil Ebralidze was a rare soul, although by today's standards he would probably be considered a dissident, as he was constantly drawn to the philosophical interpretation of the world. He was hard hit by a family tragedy - a break with his wife - and that year he was living in a room without any furniture whatsoever. He had almost no means to live on, and it's touching to recall how he painstakingly saved up all his sugar rations for his son, not allowing himself as much as a look at it. For some time I lived in his home not far from the celebrated Tiflis public baths, so colorfully described by Pushkin in "A Trip to Erzerum".

The house was an old wooden building with a pronounced lean, and it was propped by two enormous girders on the street side. Our mornings invariably started with one and same ritual: without lifting his head from the floor Archil Selivanovich would say "Davik, go have a look if we are still up". Barely pulling on my only pair of pants I would run out in the street and with the joyous "We're alive!" would return. Only then Archil would embark on his morning routine.

The memory of my first visit to the Ebralidze house is unforgettable. Once, having found out that I basically had nowhere to stay and every night was scrounging for sleeping accommodations, Archil resolutely declared: "Come with me. You'll live at my place". We went. It was a rather long walk, since it was a sin to skip a few wine cellars which were particularly numerous in that old Tbilisi neighborhood. We finally got to our destination in the middle of the night, in a quite "uplifted" state. I had expected a bedroom or a living room, but only saw bare walls and jumbled piles of books and old newspapers in the corners. It must be noted that Archil was a highly educated man with insane respect for culture, and whose main concern was the future of Georgian youth. A dedicated chess lover, he once accomplished what then (and not only then) could only be considered a feat of selfishness. Agreeing to a paltry fee he somehow managed to convince a local publisher to release two Max Euwe books translated by him into Georgian. I was so surprised by this deed that after the war I begged him until he gave me his copies which I personally handed to a touched Euwe, who gratefully added them to his library.

Since by the time we got to the Ebralidze house our state precluded any philosophical discussions and the only thing we were capable of was going to sleep right away, Archil embarked on arranging sleeping accommodations. That was no easy task, as the clear expanse of the wooden floor was thoroughly devoid of even a trace of any mattresses, pillows, blankets or bedsheets. And now there was a guest to think of, too. However, Archil had a clear plan of action.

- You will sleep here, - he pointed out the spot to me. - Wait, I'll fix you a bed.

And he set off towards a dusty corner with a pile of newspapers in it.

And he handed me two copies of the 1935 Moscow International Tournament bulletin, where I indeed saw a photo of the wise Doctor and his annotations to one of his wins. The format of the bulletins of those days was quite large, and when I spread them out over the floor their size turned out to correspond quite well to that of a bed. I don't remember how well I slept later on the games of Capablanca, but the first night on the great Doctor's annotations felt like a feather-bed dream.

Already after I left Tbilisi Ebralidze (as is well-known) discovered and nurtured the talent of the young Tbilisi native Tigran Petrosian, passing on to him his style of play and a part of his chess philosophy. However, he never reached mutual understanding with the rest of Tbilisi players and the sports authorities. Sometime in the 60s a woeful news reached me: in a state of emotional depression Archil settled the score with life by throwing himself off a cliff to the rocky bottom of the Kura river. I feel sorry not only for the life cut so prematurely, but also for the stifled creative potential of this extraodinary person, who in those years
ran into the blank wall of the unwillingness to understand and could not find his place in the complex life settings.

Howard: Here's another Bronstein question which perhaps some alert reader can help out with...

In the January 1977 issue of CL&R, a king-and-pawn endgame is presented in the late Larry Evans' column What's the BEST Move? It's allegedly played in 1956 between Bronstein and someone named Lubchansky.

But who the hell is the latter player ? The "game" doesn't show up when I try to Google it.

Yeah, yeah, that issue came out way back in '77, but perhaps someone could shed some light on this.

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